We’ve heard from players that are finding slots more difficult than they used to be. Speaking with others on the ground who also are connected to the community, they’re hearing similarly.
But as we’ve reported previously, when you look at the top performing games, they have specific things in common – they’re more volatile, and they often have those three pots (the industry term is “metamorphics”) on the top of the slot.
It didn’t take long touring G2E to see every manufacturer was showcasing not just one, but multiple three-pot game formats. It wouldn’t be too far to say some booths had half of their games showcasing this element in some way.
So what happened? Aside from the fact that the games perform, increasingly we heard those in the industry discussing the game format as a paradigm shift. If 20 years ago it was Free Games that caught the attention of players, and 10 years ago it was the hold and spin format, the multi-pot/bag/etc. Is the next industry changing feature.
Players are comfortable with it – and they play it, as the data consistently shows. Casinos are comfortable with it, and it’s increasingly shipping on brands that both players and casinos know and love, which helps get the games into the casino. So it leads to a trend that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Fortunately, the ways these elements interact are evolving, and broadening, to ensure it’s not just the same trick, in the way that free games can work very differently from game to game.
For instance, some variations try not to break what works. We saw a three pot variation of Light & Wonder’s Fire Link series, Ultimate Fire Link Triplenova, that upgrades the Fire Link bonus in various ways, such as adding credit values or adding balls to the reels. These sorts of wrinkles had been established in other Fire Link games, making them familiar. And importantly, the Fire Link bonus frequency remains on par with previous iterations of the game, ensuring that core Fire Link experience is intact.
Similarly, we saw a new version of Ainsworth’s Quick Spin series, Electric Pots, which upgrades a wheel, still a relatively novel implementation compared to free spins or a hold and spin. But Quick Spin’s core value proposition, a game that tends to offer a wheel spin every 55-60 spins on average, also remained, ensuring a feature that comes out with some frequency.
And we even saw IGT showcasing a Wheel of Fortune concept with three different wheels, so even within the realm of wheels, there’s already some diversity developing.
The upcoming Brian Christopher’s World Cruise from Gaming Arts has three ducks that take you to three different bonuses. Pop multiple ducks, and you’ll play multiple bonuses back to back. Gaming Arts had another slot on hand that had a similar structure – popping multiple objects triggered multiple bonuses in one spin, a feature players tend to like on other slots.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be three objects anymore either – a growing number of follow-up games are introducing a fourth element that adds something else to the mix. Aristocrat, as usual, started things off with a Fu Dai Lian Lian variation, as well as a Coin Trio sequel.
AGS was showcasing a Triple Coin Treasures update that had a fourth pot this year, originally seen in their booth last year. We saw other examples on the way on games such as Light & Wonder’s Quick Hit Link, which adds a fourth upgrade possibility to land more Quick Hit symbols. At the Ainsworth booth we saw a game with five upgrades – three upgrade types, but two of the upgrades had single and multiple power-up variations, which is how they fit the five upgrades into a single game.
What’s becoming clear is that there’s enough versatility in the format that it won’t be one size fits all. It’s showing up on games with high variance and low variance, so seeing the three pots itself isn’t a sign a game’s going to be tough. But overall it certainly leans into a vision of higher volatility preferences as shown by both casinos and players.
For those who aren’t particularly happy about this trend, we launched earlier this year a page featuring lower volatility slots, and having spoken with manufacturers during the show we’ll be adding more to this list soon!
